I created four 24x24in drawings simultaneously and selected one to display in a 31 1/2 in square frame. The drawings are Stonehenge paper with colored pencil, watercolor (activated by water from the Greenbrier River), and ballpoint pen.

The initial stages of the drawings took place down at the Greenbrier River, at the same place where I helped facilitate an interfaith vigil this time two years ago. I reverently laid them on the ground, and mindfully moved through each step of arranging rocks, submerging the entire paper in the rippling water (a gesture with baptism references). For another two weeks, I sat outside developing the drawing, responding with colored pencil and ballpoint pen to the interesting shapes that formed from dried watercolor.

Additionally, activities and communal reflections around themes of Laudato Si–Pope Francis’ encyclical on care for the environment–and the Pilgrims of Hope Jubilee–taking place this year in the Catholic tradition–have shaped the drawings. Sometimes I use these or similar drawings as a centerpiece for these gatherings.

I physically collaborated with the river to make these pieces! While submerging the pieces in the water, I remembered the last time I was here, painting during an interfaith vigil. We were working as a community to resist extractive energy projects that were going to threaten local species (including the fish like the Roanoke Logperch and Candy Darter), water quality, and safety of the homeowners whose the land the pipeline passes through. While I made these drawings in West Virginia, this same pipeline affects waterways in Roanoke, including the Roanoke River.

I started with a quote that I love from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek that goes something like this: “Come on, I say to the creek. Surprise me! And it does, with each new drop. Beauty is real. I would never deny it. The appalling thing is I forget. Waste and extravagance weave their way along the bank of the spirit’s free incursions into time.”

I turned this quote into a visual poem using some techniques I learned at a class with artist Ellen Sheffield through the Minnesota Center for Book Arts.

There were a couple other texts coming up for me as I work on this piece:

Theologian Chris Pramuk wrote a book called Artist Alive, which includes a beautiful chapter about wonder using Stevie Wonder’s music as a case study. He talked about how artists/poets and theologians/ministers have a lot in common, in the way they cultivate attentiveness to the holy, the pulsing depth of each moment. Annie Dillard is one who I see really good at waking herself and her readers up to the mysteries of daily experience.

Building off the quote I just shared: how to stay awake in wonder, curiosity. How to continually be surprised by the creek and life in general. And let this delight move me to working for the common good in our communities.

I’m excited to continue experimenting with the shapes and mark-making that came up with these drawings and hopefully continue collaborating with local waterways.

While working on these drawings, it felt kind of like giving myself an assignment, like I might have had in college. It was good to be focused on this one project at a time, and helped me to see other possible prompts and assignments I can give myself when I’m not sure what to do next.